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Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe illness caused by the Ebola virus, first identified in 1976, with outbreaks primarily occurring in Central and West Africa. The disease is transmitted through contact with infected animals or bodily fluids of infected individuals, leading to symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and internal bleeding. With a high fatality rate, EVD has seen significant outbreaks, notably between 2014 and 2016, which marked its spread to urban areas and multiple countries outside Africa.

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22 views6 pages

English B homework

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe illness caused by the Ebola virus, first identified in 1976, with outbreaks primarily occurring in Central and West Africa. The disease is transmitted through contact with infected animals or bodily fluids of infected individuals, leading to symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and internal bleeding. With a high fatality rate, EVD has seen significant outbreaks, notably between 2014 and 2016, which marked its spread to urban areas and multiple countries outside Africa.

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Ebola

Death I will come to you.


Before I was known to you I have caused. Fatal damage to the liver, lymphatic system, kidneys,
the burning bush
leaning trees and turning brown leaves.
No one is sad no one was watching me I had sex with a monkey to me who said
if you touch me there you will bleed.
Eating some fruit the bat said
have Ebola and you being ignorant can not read.
Before I came I had no known name
I was there and now it's known I am the cause of this your internal bleeding,
shock and acute respiratory distress and death.
James McLain

Arical

1. History of the disease


Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe disease caused by Ebola virus, a member of the filovirus
family, which occurs in humans and other primates. The disease was identified in 1976, in
almost simultaneous outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan
(now South Sudan).

Between 1979 and 1994, no cases or outbreaks were detected. However, since 1994,
outbreaks have been recognised with increasing frequency (see section 1.2below).

Until 2014, outbreaks of EVD were primarily reported from remote villages close to tropical
rainforests in Central and West Africa. Most confirmed cases were reported from the DRC,
Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Uganda. In 2014, an EVD outbreak was reported
for the first time in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone). During this outbreak, which
was ongoing between 2014 and 2016, there was intense transmission in urban areas, resulting
in over 28,000 reported cases. Multiple countries including Italy, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain,
the UK and the US, reported imported EVD cases associated with this outbreak (see section 1.3
below).

There are 6 species of Ebola virus, 4 of which are known to cause disease in humans:

● Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV)


● Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV)
● Tai Forest ebolavirus (TAFV) (formerly known as Ebola Ivory Coast)
● Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV)
Reston ebolavirus (RESTV) is known to have caused severe illness in non-human primates, but
not in humans. RESTV was first detected in 1989 in Reston, Virginia (US), in a colony of
monkeys imported from the Philippines, and has subsequently caused outbreaks in non-human
primates in Pennsylvania and Texas (US), and Sienna (Italy). Several research workers became
infected with the virus during these outbreaks, but did not become ill. Investigations traced the
source of the outbreaks to an export facility in the Philippines, but how the facility was
contaminated was not determined. In 2008, RESTV was isolated from sick pigs in the
Philippines. Several animal facility workers developed antibodies, but none reported any
symptoms.

A sixth species of Ebola virus was discovered in bats in Sierra Leone in 2018 and named
Bombali ebolavirus. It is not yet known if this species is pathogenic to humans.

2. Natural reservoir
The natural reservoir for Ebola virus is believed to be fruit bats from the Pteropodidae family.
Non-human primates are known to have been a source of human infection in a number of
previous EVD outbreaks, however, they are considered incidental rather than reservoir hosts as
they typically develop severe, fatal illness when infected and viral circulation is not believed to
persist within their populations.

3. Transmission
Ebola virus is introduced into the human population through contact with blood, organs, or other
bodily fluids of an infected animal. The first human EVD case in the West Africa outbreak (2014
to 2016) was likely infected via exposure to bats. In addition to bats, EVD has also been
documented in people who handled infected chimpanzees, gorillas and forest antelopes, both
dead and alive, in Cote d’Ivoire, the Republic of the Congo and Gabon.

Ebola virus can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with the blood,
organs, or other bodily fluids of an infected person. People can also become infected with Ebola
virus through contact with objects, such as needles or soiled clothing, that have been
contaminated with infectious secretions.

Burial practices that involve direct contact with the body of an infected person may also
contribute to transmission.
Ebola virus can persist in some areas of the body even after acute illness. These areas include
the testes, interior of the eyes, placenta, and central nervous system. Transmission via sexual
contact with a convalescent case or survivor has been documented. The virus can be present in
semen for many months after recovery.

Where there are insufficient infection control measures or barrier nursing precautions
implemented, healthcare workers are at risk of infection through close contact with EVD
patients. Laboratory-acquired EVD infections have been reported in England (in 1976) and
Russia (in 1996 and 2004).

There is no evidence of transmission of Ebola virus through intact skin or through small droplet
spread, such as coughing or sneezing.

4. Symptoms
The incubation period of EVD ranges from 2 to 21 days, with an average of 8 to 10 days.

The onset of illness is usually sudden, with symptoms of fever, headache, fatigue, muscle pain
and a sore throat. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting usually
follow after a few days. Some patients may develop a rash, cough, shortness of breath, red
eyes, hiccups, impaired kidney and liver function and internal and external bleeding.

Between 25 to 90% of all clinically ill cases of EVD are fatal, depending on the virus species,
patients’ age and other factors.

The diagram below outlines how a person’s infectiousness changes over time, following
infection with Ebola virus. When a person is displaying no symptoms, or early symptoms such
as fever, the level of virus in the body is very low, and is likely to pose a very low risk to others.
Once an individual becomes unwell with symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting, then all
body fluids are infectious, with blood, faeces and vomit being the most infectious. When
someone reaches the point at which they are most infectious, they are unlikely to be well
enough to move or interact socially. Therefore, the greatest risk at this stage of infection is to
people involved in their care. Skin is likely to be contaminated in the late stage of disease,
because of the difficulty of maintaining good hygiene.

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